All-Ireland MFC Final/Kerry v Roscommon: A man could return home after 25 years in the Amazon jungle, take one glance at the team line-ups and proceed to write this preview. Kerry abides. Insanity would not be a valiant excuse for backing Roscommon.
Let us judge this book by its cover. We have an Ó Sé from An Ghaeltacht (no relation) but a Walsh, a Moran and a Kennedy who are all off-springs of players from the back-to-back golden periods of the 1970s and 1980s. Famous names, big reputations. Plenty of pressure.
The player with the biggest reputation of all is midfielder Tommy Walsh who is a son of super sub Seán, who became Jack O'Shea's midfield foil in the 1980s. Here comes another Kerry kid with basketball street smarts.
Walsh will shine unless his midfield partner Garry O'Driscoll hogs the limelight. David Moran, son of eight-time All-Ireland winner Ogie, and manager John Kennedy's son Eoin are both dangerous forwards but they will probably be overshadowed by three-time minor Paddy Curran - the only survivor of desperately cynical Tyrone tactics in the 2004 final.
Current senior Darren O'Sullivan came in for the brunt of rotational fouling that day. Kerry never crib, they adapt.
So it's done and dusted. The first Kerry minor All-Ireland since Darragh Ó Sé was swashbuckling at under-18 in 1994 and possibly the first senior and minor double since 1980.
Of course, the fact Roscommon accounted for Galway, Mayo, Tipperary and strongly-fancied Meath, in Croke Park, will not be taken into account. Flukes the lot! That they are being guided into battle by the last great Roscommon captain can be overlooked too. Fergal O'Donnell lifted the Connacht trophy in 2001 when they beat Galway and Mayo before losing to Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
Just like the Mayo seniors in the semi-final, Roscommon ruined an ideal final pairing between Kerry and a Meath team containing a host of famous surnames. It was done with a spread of scores throughout their forward line.
But Kerry have buckets of motivation to regain the Tommy Markham Cup. Here's just one from John Kennedy: "Tradition means a lot in Kerry. The fathers legacy being carried on is great but these players want to be known for their own name, in their own right."
KERRY: T Mac an tSaoir; B Russell, M Moloney, D Ó Sé; S Enright, A Greaney, B Costello; T Walsh, G O'Driscoll; J Buckley, D O'Shea, D Moran; G Sayers, P Curran, E Kennedy.
ROSCOMMON (probable): M Miley; P Gleeson, M McLoughlin, S Ormsby; P Domican, D Flynn, C Garvey; D Keenan, K Higgins; C Devanney, J McKeague, D Shine; P Garvey, F Cregg, D O'Gara.
Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).
